The Greeks and Greek Civilization

In 1872, Jacob Burckhardt, one of the preeminent historians of classical and Renaissance culture, presented this revolutionary work, which portrays ancient Greek culture as an aristocratic world based on a ruthless competition for honor, a competition that led, in turn, to a tyranous state with minimal personal freedoms. Burckhardt's landmark project, the culmination of thirty years of scholarlship by leading Oxford historian, Oswyn Murray, offers a rich cultural history of a fascinating society.

Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) was one of the greatest historians of the nineteenth century. He was professor of History and the History of Art at the University of Basel from 1858 to 1893, and was a mentor to Friedrich Nietzsche.

Dr. Oswyn Murray is CUF Lecturer in Ancient History, Faculty of Classics, at Oxford University, and director of an international project entitled Bibliotheca Academica Translationum, investigating the diffusion of classical studies through the translation of works of scholarship in Europe, 1700-1920.

"Not only a rich overview of Burckhardt's learning but a precious glimpse into the intellectual world of the late nineteenth century." --The New Yorker

"A corrective to the rather gaga idealism of 'the Greek spirit'...lively." --George Wills, The New York Times Book Review

"This book will become a necessary tool in courses not only on nineteenth-century historiography, but on the ancient world as well." --Publishers Weekly